Erstwhile mechanical engineer and Forbes Executive Editor, with MBA from NYU. In 15 years at Forbes I covered large corporations, money managers and self-made wealth builders---and the myriad trials they all face. Joined the tech-startup ranks in 2014 as co-founder and CFO of Eyes/Only, a luxury-experience portal for high-net-worth individuals. If the mood strikes (and especially if you have a tasty-tequila rec), please send your thoughts to brett@eyeson.ly.

Why You Should Postpone College

Very soon, millions of high-schoolers will run a nerve-rattling gauntlet, perhaps for weeks: They will yank open their mailboxes and flip through the envelopes like one of those rapid-fire, dollar-bill sorting machines in all the gangster movies. Girth—that’s what they’re after. Because the plumper the package, the better the odds it contains that which matters most: a college acceptance letter!

Before triumph and tragedy ensue, I have a modest proposal for the future class of 2016. No matter what happens in the coming weeks, grab some solitude and contemplate one very important question: Am I really ready for college?

With $1 trillion (that’s with a “t”) in student loans outstanding, your answer could well mean more—to your academic experience and your overall personal development—than the reputation of any ivy-wreathed institution that will have you.

In a recent post about income inequality in America (see What Would You Give To Be In The 1%?), I made the case that society should strive for the right level of inequality—one that, best as possible, reflects the relationship between sacrifice and reward. All else equal, I argued, many well paid people are expected to be on call, assume more risk, and generally neglect other aspects of their lives to a greater degree than those who are not paid as well. Plenty of people will choose not to make those sacrifices, and size of their wallets (for better or worse) will often reflect that choice. The big challenge: ensuring that as many people as possible have the opportunity to make that choice for themselves.

As many readers pointed out, having that opportunity means being able to compete for well paying jobs and careers. (While most people can serve a cup of coffee, most cannot design the next Ipod or manage a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio.) It means, in short: learning a valuable set of skills.

Easy enough, you say, especially if you get into a decent school. But here’s the rub: Having access to an education is just the entry fee. To really learn something (as opposed to completing homework and navigating the occasional test), you have to be ready to receive that knowledge—to inhale it, with aggression, satisfaction, even glee.

To that end, I propose a theoretical pre-college regimen called “grownup training.” Specifically: six months spent working in a factory, six in a restaurant, six on a farm and six in the military or performing another public service such as building houses, teaching algebra or changing bedpans. (Of course,mandated military or civil service between high school and college is nothing new. Austria, Brazil, Finland, Greece, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam all require between six months and two years of service. Israel demands three years from its men and two from its women, after which many would-be undergrads take what the English call a “gap year” to travel the globe before heading off to college.)

I floated this idea on Forbes.com six years ago as I began business school at age 35, and for my money it stands up more than ever, especially in this increasingly competitive economy.

The two-year format need not be rigid or in any particular order, but grownup training should definitely include all four of those components. Each offers a window on a critical, if unglamorous, societal function; taken together, the group cuts across all manner of socioeconomic currents: old and young, rich and poor, rural and urban. And beyond the obvious educational and character-building implications for the kids, grownup training would offer broader benefits to society—like cheap, dedicated labor for hospitals, schools and charities.

To be clear, grownup training is not formal conscription. Those two years would be a college prerequisite: Without it, applicants need not bother filling out their forms.

Okay, it’s a bit Draconian. And, yes, plenty of students are truly engaged and take advantage of what their universities have to offer. But there are also plenty of 18-year-olds who are itching to get the four-year party started. I’d reckon that grownup training would put all undergrads deeply in touch with 1) why they wanted to go college in the first place, 2) what a special opportunity college really is, and 3) more than a vague notion of what—and better yet who—they wanted to be when they grew up.

My clarifying moments came after graduation, at age 22, on a factory floor in frigid Menomonee Falls, Wi. After studying mechanical engineering, I took a job as a “management trainee” at a $40 million contract-manufacturing outfit where I was one of a handful of college-degreed employees—no badge of honor among my blue-collar colleagues who had forgotten more about carving metal into complex shapes than I would ever learn.

To test my spirit, the head of the design department—a cartoonishly tyrannical but brilliant engineer—set me to a variety of basic tasks, like breaking down cardboard boxes, painting safety lines on the plant floor and sawing 2” by 4” metal tubes to make scaffolding for a massive homemade machine tool. I almost lost a thumb in a hydraulic vice. As we all do, I eventually figured things out, and went on to manage projects for the likes of Chrysler, Caterpillar, Eaton and Briggs & Stratton. The experience gave me even more respect and appreciation for engineers—and also convinced me I’d probably be happier doing something else.

Some folks are quick to argue that all the time wasted and mistakes made as undergraduates is part—even the point—of the college process. I’d bet many of those same people now spend a lot of time cruising the self-help aisle at Barnes and Noble.

Bottom line: I sure wish I had thought more outside the mailbox when I was 18.

Have any words of wisdom for the next crop of wealth creators? Post a comment.

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I still disagree with much of your “What would you give” post, but this is pretty much on the money.

I went to college right out of high school mostly because my parents said that’s what I was going to do. They didn’t really offer any guidance on careers or courses of study other than to say I was going. I wasn’t a dummy, I did well in calculus, physics and scored 1450/1600 on the SAT. I just had no direction.

I went to college because it was the path of least resistance. I had no idea what I wanted to study, let alone have for a career, so I went with something that would maximize my free time.

Fortunately, the university I chose also had an excellent engineering school and many of my friends were engineering students. I spent a lot of my free time helping them on their projects because they were fun. It wasn’t until a few of them told me “You know, you’d be a good engineer if you wanted to.” that I even considered engineering as a career.

After graduation, I worked a variety of crappy jobs before finally going back to school for my engineering degree. My first degree was good for two things: 1) the credits all transferred, making me a Senior, so I got to register first for classes. 2) All of those transferred classes covered all of my gen-ed requirements so I was able to get my degree in 3yr instead of the 4-5 most students take.

After graduation, I took a job paying 3 times what I had been making before.

I don’t necessarily regret the path I took, it’s part of what has made me who I am. In hindsight though, I would have been better off joining the military or something else to prepare me for the world after high school.

hey i stumbled on this article and found it interesting enough to read the comments i was on the same boat went to school becuase that was the norm not knowing what id do ,but now being 3 years out of high shcool and in and out of college since then.i am ready to go back and have a general idea on what i want to do and it is engineering also. i took apart and put together random things growing up and love technology so this only seems like the right decision.just dont know what kind of engineer i want to become

I think you overstate your position slightly, but in general I agree with you.

For far too many, college is just what they do after high school- pick a major that sounds fun or makes you ‘tick’, and expect to figure out later how you’ll translate that into a job.

I studied business management. I think was the first major on the application that wasn’t agriculture, animal sciences, or biology. I planned to study either economics or journalism- my two favorite courses in high school. When I visited the campus (Texas A&M University), I discovered the journalism school was thrilled to have someone with a 4-digit SAT score, and might be shut down (it was shut down a few years later). When I went to visit an economics advisor, he told me that if I was already accepted to the business school (apparently, he said, it was hard to get into), I should just stay there and study economics on the side. I took his advice.

I suppose it worked out pretty well- but what if I had used the same process, but my first desire was to go after social work or psychology, or kinesiology?

What I tell high school seniors is basic advice, but it has special application to their decisions- be intentional. Whatever you do, be intentional about it. Have a purpose, and decide on the best way to accomplish it. That doesn’t mean a degree in social work is useless- it just means it isn’t going to help you make that 1%…or probably even very far above minimum wage in the near term.

I know a lot of kids who go to Bible school right out of high school. Are they all wanting to be pastors? Nope, not at all- they (and their parents) value the education itself- they desire the knowledge and maturity that they’ll gain. That isn’t a job-related purpose, but its a very legitimate purpose nonetheless, and its a good way to achieve it.

Great post Brett! I agree with the concept of, as you call it, “grownup training.” I didn’t go to school right out of high school, instead I worked and when I did finally go I paid my own way, as an adult. Made my college education something I was determined to get the most out of since I knew what it could bring and I truly understood the costs. It would be interesting to study just how much the admission numbers for Continuing Education branches of universities have swelled in the past decade. I know my school, NYU, had numbers increasing dramatically while I was there, in large part because my fellow adult students had gone to college, entered the workforce and realized they wanted to do something else…

Well, Morgan you should know that the last phrases you just mentioned are really precious! Millions of people have wasted great amounts of money to face that when they began to work. I believe that is one mistake of parents and not kids. They want to hurry the process of their children’s education in order to find a job and settle their life .however, it is more complicated, and when at this age the majority of the kids do not know what they actually want to do. Morgan I have to admit that you are a really admirable and successful person!

Unfortunately, everyone becomes ‘ready to learn’ at a different age. Your case sounds like a common urban childhood, where exposure to real work and different trades is often minimal.

In my own case, I was born and raised on a farm, so I had plenty of experience with menial jobs and various trades by the time I graduated from high school.

Thus I knew I needed to get to college and learn a more satisfying career base quickly, so I could earn some real money. I had no interest in partying, trying other jobs nor money for bouncing around Europe for a year first.

Thus your proposal to have everyone wait a couple of years is just as onerous to me as the current situation, where colleges basically take everyone who can pay the fees, and classes move at the pace of the lowest common denominator.

This is a tough and politically charged problem, for which I don’t have an immediate answer. Thanks for the opportunity to debate the issue.